During a column Tuesday about several major injuries in New England sports, CSNNE.com's Rich Levine suggested the Boston Celtics should keep Rajon Rondo out for the entire upcoming season.

Levine's case was pretty simple: The Celtics should want to be as bad as possible (ping pong balls, y'all), and Rondo, rehabbing from a torn ACL, would help them win too many games.

I can only imagine the level of media assault that will rain down on No. 9 if he pulls a Derrick Rose. So, if this were really going to happen, Rondo would probably need to suffer some kind of “set back” in his rehab. But honestly, in a perfect world, that’s how the Celtics should handle this.
First, there’s no question that the worse the Celtics are this season, the better they’ll be in the long term. At the very least, they’ll be set up better for the long term. On the flip, there’s really nothing to gain from finishing next year as the seventh or eight seed. Sure, it might sell more tickets. It might help keep them relevant. But if the goal is for the Celtics to win another championship in any of our lifetimes, you want them to be bad next year. Real bad. I’m talking Phil Pressey-is-your-starting-point-guard bad.
Assuming that Rondo will start the year late anyway, the team will most likely start in a hole. Does it make sense for the Celtics to rush him back just in time to barely pull them out of it? Nope. And if you’re Rondo, it doesn’t make much sense either.

Levine went on to discuss Rondo's contract, which expires in two years, suggesting he's better off getting fully healthy because the time for a new deal is approaching.

When another prominent writer (CBS' Matt Moore) wrote in July that Rondo should sit for the whole season, I tackled the subject. Not much has changed since then, so I'll just copy and past my thoughts from a couple months ago:

"When the basketball world first clamored for Derrick Rose to return quickly from ACL surgery last season, his brother, Reggie, opined that there wasn't a real push for him to come back. Why risk his health to return quickly, Reggie wondered, if the Chicago Bulls didn't have a realistic chance at a title anyway? He had a point then, and he had a point even after Chicago advanced to the second round of the playoffs without Rose. Miami was the clear class of the Eastern Conference last season, and the Bulls weren't ready to really push the Heat unless Rose returned 100 percent -- which he obviously wasn't confident he could do.

"The Celtics are likely a long way behind where Chicago was last season, and the benefits of Rondo sitting out could be much greater. If everyone in Boston's healthy, the team could compete for the 7th or 8th playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. But with the 2014 NBA Draft shaping up to be stacked at the top, that could actually be bad. Depending on who you ask, the draft could have six or seven franchise cornerstones. I've said it before here that the Celtics should have enough assets to move up in the draft if they really want to, but having their own lottery pick certainly wouldn't hurt. Boston's players and coaches have taken the mentality that tanking isn't acceptable, but losing plenty of games next year would actually be good strategy.

"The Celtics could be okay if Rondo's healthy. But if he's out for any extended period of time, all bets are off. . . .

"Remember how bad the Celtics were without Rondo in the playoffs? Or how brutal they looked whenever Pierce or Kevin Garnett sat during the second half of the season, once Rondo had already gone down to injury? Imagine that over a full season. I'll wait while you grab a couple Advil pills for the resulting headache, but then remember: Ainge is looking toward the future. Bottoming out in brutal fashion could actually pay huge dividends next summer (what up, Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker?).

"And if Boston gets a lottery pick, Ainge wouldn't necessarily need to keep it. It would be an asset along with the trade exception, first-round picks and talented young players the Celtics have assembled. Ainge could select a young stud or he could flip the pick in a package for veteran talent, like he did with the No. 5 pick in the 2007 Ray Allen trade.

"I doubt the Celtics could sell Rondo on sitting out a full season. He's stubborn, loves competing and certainly misses basketball. He's said to want to return quicker than Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who almost set the NFL record for rushing yards after fast-forwarding his own return from ACL surgery. Plus, it could be tough to sell the NBA that a partially torn ACL required a 15-month (-ish) absence.

"But Rondo's smart and understands the Celtics aren't designed to compete for a championship next season. If he decides to sit out even a couple of months, that could cause enough damage to Boston's record. As much as I believe The Green Team could compete for a playoff spot with everyone healthy, losing Rondo for anything more than a couple weeks would prove insurmountable, even in the weak (especially at the bottom) Eastern Conference. The Celtics' only natural backup point guard, Phil Pressey, went undrafted this year.

"A Rondo trade could be possible and an opening night return (could still be in play), but, assuming the point guard will agree to take his time coming back, patience is probably the best approach for all parties. Getting Rondo fully recuperated while stacking up the ping pong balls would represent a real win-win."

I just don't see him sitting out the full season. I can't see him going for it and I'm pretty sure the NBA would have major issues with it too.